Whiteout
by Vela Nova
Summary: Team Sonic are preparing for 2014's Sochi Winter Olympics, but one of their members is starting to let frostbite chill her whiskers. When Blaze's heart starts to freeze over, she falls victim to all of her old insecurities. Can Silver boost her confidence and restore her passion for the things she loves, or will she fall into the chill's icy clutches? Silvaze; slight Sonamy.
1. Permafrost

Snowflakes drifted and danced down from the sky to join their brothers already waiting for them on the ground, collecting in mounds which were shaped by light, howling winds that wailed and shrieked and brought nothing but bitterness with them. A lone figure hunkered down by the edge of a frozen lake in surprisingly light attire, seemingly unaffected by the winds and how they swirled in the ears of their victims. Long gloved fingers worked to lace up a purple pair of skates, and the evidently female figure rose before stepping out onto the ice with a quick count of three.

"You can do this." She whispered to herself, attempting reassurance, but it wasn't an art she'd mastered - motivational speaking wasn't a speciality of hers - she began to glide across the ice, losing her usual grace, becoming unsteady and unsure.

It didn't take long for her to lose her balance completely, and soon she was on her hands and knees, biting back curses in a less than dignified manner. The heat residing beneath the fur and skin of her palms started to bleed through her gloves as her anger grew alongside her irritation. She staggered to her feet and sought out the quickest way to get off the ice.

* * *

"Okay then," Sonic wrapped his scarf around his neck tighter, to fend off the chill that had already settled into his cobalt spines. "Tails, we got 'em all here?"

"All present and accounted for!" Tails smiled, holding a clipboard and a pencil in his hands. As Team Sonic's head of administration, Tails was a key player in terms of organisation. He was working with Sochi's Olympic committee to ensure that both Team Mario and Team Sonic were ready for the games, alongside Princess Peach. It was upon his insistence that the entirety of Team Sonic had gathered under one roof, so they could sort out who partook in which event.

"Good." Nodded Sonic, surveying the room, meeting the eyes of old friends and new, acquaintances and even the odd nemesis or two. His emerald gaze lingered over Eggman for a while, narrowing only in the slightest, and flitted away from the likes of Amy, too nervous to make proper eye contact. Too much communication of any kind was the equivalent to a marriage proposal in Amy's longing eyes. "So, where do we start? Anyone got any preferences with who they'd like to work with?" He pushed his chair away from the conference table, balancing it on two legs at an angle. Small conversations broke out from every taken seat in the room and everybody tried to make themselves heard, naming off their preferred partners and grouping themselves into smaller teams.

"Don't forget," Tails spoke up once more, standing up. "You can partner up with members of Team Mario too, but I need specific requests for specific events, and then I'll have to arrange everything with Peach and Mario."

Without warning and without drawing attention to herself, Amy slipped out of her chair and made her way to the other the other side of the table the quickest way she knew how - by slipping under the table - she then popped up from between Sonic and Knuckles, who was sitting to his left, grinning broadly.

"Sonic!" She smiled brightly, batting her eyelashes a little, straightening out her pink coat. "Tell me you'll ice skate with me, Sonic!"

Sonic jumped out of shock. "Amy?" He frowned. He quickly turned to Tails, who laughed a little uncomfortably.

"She means well." He shrugged, sympathetic towards the poor girl. His twin tails started to twist and spin and soon enough, they lifted him off the ground. He went on his way, leaving his friend to deal with Amy and her puppy dog eyes, hearing Knuckles' faint laughter as Amy started to interrogate Sonic, who gave cryptic answers in return.

All was going well, he supposed. Well, no brawls had broken out yet, but he could tell that Shadow had hit one of Silver's nerves for whatever reason.

Coming closer to the pair, who were staring one another down from across the table, he overheard the rest of their conversation, a little confused.

"It was merely a suggestion." Shadow scowled his usual, ever present scowl and Tails had a hard time deciphering whether he was genuinely disgruntled or not. "Besides, she has a will of her own. Blaze?"

Blaze - who Tails hadn't seen in quite some time - didn't show much of any expression. She merely shook her head. "I'm sorry, Shadow." She started. "But I don't have any intentions of forming any kind of team. I prefer to work alone. For the benefit of us all, of course."

Tails watched on as a slight pout crossed over Silver's lips. Shadow nodded in understanding.

"I see." He murmured. "It's a shame. You would've been a valuable team member." It became clear that his frown was genuine. "You too, Silver." He added, almost as an afterthought, but Silver didn't give him too much of reaction.

Tails made a mental note to strike up a conversation with Silver and Blaze later on. He hadn't seen either of them in quite some time, and whilst Blaze wasn't much of a conversationalist and, ironically, didn't care too much for small talk, Silver could babble on for hours if you caught him in the right mood.

He left them to check on Vector just after Shadow went to talk with Metal Sonic about tactics and team formation.

* * *

At the end of the day, not much had changed in terms of who decided to work with who. It didn't really matter; decisions didn't need to be made so urgently, but the games were creeping up on them. Team Mario and Team Sonic were both in similar states of indecision. Only Shadow, Metal Sonic and Eggman (to some extent) had managed to create a little team for themselves, and Mario and Luigi decided to group up with Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, but aside from that, the rest of the two teams were amid chaos, coming up fruitless with their efforts of trying to orchestrate themselves properly.

The meeting ended just after the sky turned black, illuminated by only the moon and the twinkling stars.

Blaze strode out of the conference room, walking briskly, determined to shake of the crowd of her chattering colleagues. She had a purpose, and a princess with a purpose was never somebody who was to be distracted.

She'd managed to avoid conversation until something that wasn't quite cold hit her right in the back of her head.

"Bull's eye!" A familiar voice cheered from behind her. Blaze had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, but a small, fond smile played upon her lips. She quickly forced herself to frown, appearing to be a little irritated, turning around to meet eyes just as golden as her own.

"Silver," she sighed, annoyance evident in her body language and her tone. The hedgehog had both hands outstretched, his palms and fingertips glowing a vibrant teal with telekinetic energy.

"What?" He smiled, seeing through her façade in an effortless way, seeing the amusement behind her eyes. "I got you, didn't I?"

Blaze didn't respond, choosing to walk on ahead.

"Please, princess." Silver grinned, coming up beside her, using his powers to levitate himself off the ground a little. "Lighten up a little. You're not fooling anyone, frowning like that."

"Excuse me?" Blaze scoffed, refusing to look at Silver. She started to wish she'd worn her boots to the meeting. Her heeled shoes weren't doing her any favours, what, with the snow piling up around her ankles and all. "I'm not pulling any tricks, Silver."

For some reason, Blaze's namesake was losing its validity. Ever since Team Mario and Team Sonic's first winter Olympic games, she's started to recoil back into her little shell again, and it was distressing to say the least. The reason was completely unknown, but Silver was focused on finding out what was wrong with her. After all, a hedgehog isn't a hedgehog without his relentless determined and unwavering drive.

A soft glow akin to the one that surrounded Silver's body coiled around Blaze's leg.

"Silver, no." She told him, panic widening her eyes. "No no no no- Silver!"

"Relax." Now it was his turn to frown. He lessened the distance between them and wrapped his hand gently around one of her wrists, holding the fluffy trimming of her coat. He was fully aware of the boundary he was crossing - he was invading her personal space, quite drastically - but it was a boundary he'd crossed countless times before, just not lately. "I've got you. We're just going to take a little trip, okay? To the frozen lake. We need to talk." He told her.

Blaze was about to protest. There were people around them, people like Sonic and Amy and Knuckles, who could ask them questions about how close they were and make the wrong judgements, but she swallowed back her anxieties and allowed herself to be carted off, staying quiet so long as Silver stayed close to the snowy ground.

What could he possibly want to talk about?


	2. Absolute Zero

_Vancouver, 2010_

_Amy always looked so graceful and elegant on the ice. She wasn't having too much luck with the other events, granted, though the games were only a few days in, but on the ice she could let go of all her insecurities, all of her worries, her responsibilities - _well,_ Blaze supposed, _how hard could it be for an ordinary hedgehog to loosen up once in a while?

_She spun and twirled, coming up a little short with her final jump, but she did well overall and even bagged herself a silver medal for her training and her efforts. _

_Everybody cheered and congratulated her as she came off the ice, all showering her with praise in their own little ways. Sonic pulled her into a half-hug, wrapping an arm around her shoulders loosely, and she practically swooned. _

_"I did it!" She squealed with glee, bouncing up and down on her skates, maintaining her balance even off the ice. _

_Out of courtesy, Blaze approached Amy with the smallest of smiles, trying to come across as friendly and enthusiastic, wanting to congratulate her for her win, but the remains of her excitement just wouldn't bubble. "Good job out there." She told the pink hedhehog, nodding to her, desperately trying to mask the jealousy in her tone, which rung loud and clear, paling in comparison to the envy burning in her eyes._

* * *

"So tell me what's bothering you, princess." Silver had levitated them both over to the Frozen Lake and was quick to spot a sad, lonely tree, standing without its leaves, its branches heavy with snow. He spread his gloved hands out in front of him and the circular markings decorating them pulsated with energy. He used his telekinetic powers to rid a rather low down branch of the snow it carried, and he helped Blaze up, perching himself beside her, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the branch. He tried to catch her gaze in an attempt to reassure her - they weren't too high up off the ground - he knew Blaze had thrown herself from more daunting heights.

Silver hadn't referred to her as royalty in quite some time. In fact, he'd stopped addressing her as "Your Highness" back when he was first brought into her palace's workforce. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable around her, so she carefully instructed her to only call her by her name. He _was_ technically her employee, which was bad enough - he needed a job, sure, but they were friends - it was all a bit strange, a little complicated. Their lives were entangled like strings, with little beads of status and knotted clumps of responsibility binding them here and there. His sudden acknowledgement of her title was odd to say the least, and it was making her feel... odd. Was something wrong?

"You know I hate it when you call me that." She frowned, turning away from his stare. His glimmering, hopeful eyes had always entranced her.

Silver laughed a little nervously and reached up to rub the back of his neck - a habit he'd developed recently - he shrugged. "You're a princess." He murmured. "I just like reminding you."

Blaze's throat tightened and a bitter taste was left in her mouth; a taste that reminded her of decay, oddly enough. Of old times, of her life before Silver burst through that gaping hole, that split that spanned across all sorts of times, spaces, dimensions and matters. She remembered the feeling that overtook her when he landed heavily on the ground, crouching, eyes wide and almost dangerous. He looked feral and wild; it was almost as if that Silver and the Silver she knew know were two completely different hedgehogs. She remembered feeling as if she knew him, feeling as if their first meeting wasn't the first time their eyes had locked. She shot him a glare that didn't really mean anything, snapping back into reality, crossing her arms over chest.

"What's up?" Silver asked again, persisting. "C'mon, you can tell me. What happened to no secrets?"

"It's nothing-"

"It's clearly troubling you."

Blaze took a deep breath. She could feel the flames coiling and writhing beneath her skin and fur, just waiting to be released upon her command. "I want to skate." She told him, but it took him a while to understand.

"Weren't you taught?" He cocked his head to one side. "We were all given lessons, free of charge. It was a while ago, remember?" Come to think of it, he couldn't remember whether or not she'd turned up.

"It's not as simple as that." Blaze snarled, a little too aggressive. She piped down when his shoulders sank, feeling guilty. Her old temper was returning and frustration was building up the walls she'd thought Silver had knocked down. "I'm a danger to the games, Silver."

The hedgehog thought back to 2010. Blaze was a threat, yes - what, with her pyrokinetic abilities and all - at first, the games' officials had bluntly refused to allow her participation and Team Sonic was a member short, but they stood their ground and argued and fought and appealed Blaze's case. _It's a condition, _Sonic had said. _Bowser's allowed to participate and he can breathe fire, _Amy had pointed out. _It's not her fault, _Silver had spat venomously at one particularly ignorant balding man. He thought back to the day Blaze was announced as part of Team Sonic's line-up and the elation he felt, and to a few weeks after that, when Blaze refused to go anywhere near the ice rinks after an incident involving a particularly high ski slope during practice.

"You're not." He insisted, full of false conviction. "You're just being paranoid and self-conscious, stop worrying."

"I missed up on the ski slope." She shook her head. "I messed up then and I nearly ruled out skiing as an event. The Vancouver official's had to organise a different course for us all to use, you remember all of this, Silver."

"But what's this got to do with skating?" Silver carefully wrapped an arm around his friend, his touch gentle. "It's always going to be dangerous, Blaze. For me and you both. We're different, and sometimes our abilities can be hindrances, right?" He smiled that practiced, easy-going smile of his and Blaze had almost forgotten about the confrontation with Shadow earlier. "But it's okay. Think of this as another lesson in control. I'll teach you how to skate properly. We've still got a few weeks before the games begin."

"Silver, no-" Blaze started, succumbing to his pleading eyes as they silently begged for her attention.

"Blaze, yes." Silver grinned toothily. "You'll be a champion figure skater in no time!"

He was quick to start babbling on about skating techniques, beaming. He even implied that they'd be skating together in the paired events, dropping hints here and there, making Blaze feel a little uncomfortable. She knew Silver was categorised as an athlete who was best known for the skill he possessed, and the idea of skating with him was a little daunting, especially considering how romanticised the event was by athletes and spectators alike. She didn't think she'd be able to keep her emotions or her powers under control, not if Silver got too close, not if he moved in for a lift and hoisted her high above the ice.

She'd most definitely panic and set herself alight, and that wouldn't go well, would it?


End file.
